Chapter 16: A Minor Mistake Every Man in the World Is Prone to Make

“Was it you who told Zhu Tingting about what happened in my family?” At this moment, Fu Tingjun was truly heartbroken, looking at her as one would look at a faithless lover.

Lu Jianwei felt a sense of inevitability, as if the other shoe had finally dropped, but she still needed to confirm, “What happened in your family? Your father’s matter?”

Fu Tingjun replied, “I already returned the money, the ticket, and the little gold lock to you. Why won’t you let me go? Why did you have to tell her about this?”

Lu Jianwei was now certain: the original author, Zhu Tingting, had arrived.

She knew about Fu Tingjun’s father because the original self had met him once while in Country M, and still possessed a letter written by Fu Chaosheng. On the second day after returning to China, the original self went to find Fu Tingjun with the letter, only to witness that scene between the two of them.

Afterwards, she never returned the letter to Fu Tingjun.

Lu Jianwei shook her head, “I didn’t tell her. As for how Zhu Tingting found out, I have no idea.”

Fu Tingjun clearly didn’t believe her. “Weiwei, I never planned to marry her. That day was really an accident.”

Lu Jianwei grew impatient and stepped back. “Fu Tingjun, what’s the point of telling me all this? When my father had his accident, your mother immediately demanded the engagement token back from my family. Technically, the marriage was already off at that point.

Besides, my family kindly supported you and your mother, yet when determining our social status, you claimed it was payment for being hired help. I’ve never seen such heartless behavior.”

Her disdain stabbed deeply into Fu Tingjun.

He couldn’t understand it. The Lu family had already been labeled as capitalists—his mother’s words wouldn’t have lightened their burden. On the contrary, since both families were connected by marriage, sacrificing one to save the other ought to have been the best compromise.

A gentleman judges by intentions, not actions. His feelings for her had never changed—why did she insist on quibbling over such trivial matters?

As for what happened with Zhu Tingting, he had indeed drunk too much that day. His mother had invited Zhu Tingting over, and he escorted her home. On the way, Zhu Tingting flirted with him, and he couldn’t resist, making a mistake that all men are said to make.

Unfortunately, his luck was bad—Lu Jianwei happened to witness it.

He never expected her to return to China so suddenly!

As soon as Lu Jianwei entered the office, she received a notification to attend a meeting in the conference room. The publicity department had no idea what the meeting was about.

Inside the conference room were Zheng Baohua, Gu Huaizheng, the director in charge of technology, and all those involved in the firearms improvement project.

Almost all of them were men.

For the machinery industry, this was quite normal—even in later generations, female technicians were a minority.

When Lu Jianwei appeared at the door, the technical staff were briefly dazzled by her beauty.

Fu Tingjun felt uncomfortable and unwilling to accept it.

Gu Huaizheng’s gaze also fell gently upon her. There was an empty seat beside him, and when Lu Jianwei looked over, his arm rested on the back of the chair; though he said nothing, his meaning was clear.

Lu Jianwei graciously walked over, about to take the seat, when Fu Tingjun protested, “Comrade Lu, that’s the leader’s seat. Technical staff and ordinary personnel sit on this side.”

Gu Huaizheng withdrew his arm, his face darkening, voice cold. “Today we are discussing the most precise and authoritative translation, which was done by Comrade Lu. Enough with the nonsense—I hope everyone can focus on the project. If you keep fixating on trivialities, there will be no progress.”

Gu Huaizheng’s sharp gaze swept across the room, and combined with his commanding presence—the aura forged in the battlefield—it was enough to make these scholarly types bow their heads.

Fu Tingjun, who as a university student from an engineering college had held some prestige in the technical department, now found his colleagues only resentful toward him.

What a troublemaker—he’s a university student, but his technical skills aren’t even that impressive.

The meeting began, discussing the document translated by Lu Jianwei yesterday. It contained many technical terms; although her translation was highly accurate, the domestic technicians still didn’t understand what was meant.

Sometimes, even within the same field, different terms are used for the same feature.

The purpose was to organize a brainstorming session, encouraging everyone to share their views.

Unexpectedly, Lu Jianwei was able to provide precise answers from a professional perspective to every question raised.

She explained unfamiliar terms from the report one by one, including methods for testing these properties, which machines to use, experimental conditions, results analysis, and so on—her explanations were clear and thorough.

Gu Huaizheng was surprised as well; his partner had said her undergraduate studies were in art and music.

The technical staff were equally puzzled. After receiving Lu Jianwei’s report, many found it even harder to understand. The meeting had originally been meant to challenge and criticize the young lady.

They’d heard from Fu Tingjun that she’d majored in art and music in a foreign university.

What a joke—that’s the exact opposite of mechanical engineering.

But now, listening to Lu Jianwei’s logical and detailed explanations, they forgot all about her undergraduate major.

One person asked, “Engineer Lu, these are the types of steel available domestically. If we want the barrel to withstand such high pressure, we simply don’t have suitable materials at present.”

Lu Jianwei thought for a moment and replied, “Based on the data I know, the gun barrel, as the core component of a firearm, must withstand peak pressures up to 50,000 psi during projectile discharge. This requires the material to have excellent pressure resistance.”

Her responses were swift, as if she could see into the heart of the person asking; each answer not only explained but solved the problem and guided the discussion.

Fu Tingjun had never seen this side of Lu Jianwei. She was supposed to be an ethereal young lady, skilled at piano, painting, dancing, and singing—how could she know so much about technical matters?

If only she would share this knowledge with him, letting him solve the problems—how wonderful that would be!

He was actually quite passive at work, lacking useful theoretical knowledge, and without practical experience.

“How do you know the peak pressure data?” Fu Tingjun challenged.

Lu Jianwei looked at him deeply. “I’ve read materials on this subject abroad. SCI journals contain many papers on materials, and they cite such data.”

What is SCI?

Fu Tingjun, holding to the idea that science must question everything, asked, “Just because you read it, you can remember it? This isn’t child’s play—if the data is wrong, do you know how much damage it could cause? You think you’re writing articles or painting in the publicity department? If you mess up, you can just start over?”

“If you doubt it, you can build a test rig and run your own data checks.” Lu Jianwei maintained absolute professionalism, unfazed even though Fu Tingjun was clearly targeting her.

Being questioned in the scientific field is as common as breathing.

Lu Jianwei’s humility won the admiration of everyone, while Fu Tingjun seemed petty in comparison.

Many in the technical department had been waiting to see her fail, having previously mocked her for studying art and music. Now, their faces stung from the slap—she was clearly an expert.